CNBC News

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell: Walmart – The retailer earned an adjusted $1.29 per share for the second quarter, 7 cents a share above estimates. Revenue also topped forecasts. Comparable-store sales at Walmart U.S. stores rose 4.5 percent from a year earlier, well above the consensus estimate of 2.4 percent. The company also raised sales and earnings guidance for the year. JD.com – The China-based internet retailer missed estimates on both…

J.C. Penney on Thursday reported quarterly earnings and revenue that missed at analysts’ expectations. Shares of the company were down nearly 25 percent. Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters: Losses per share: 38 cents, adjusted, vs. 6 cents, expected Revenue: $2.76 billion vs. $2.86 billion expected J.C. Penney reported fiscal fourth-quarter net loss of $101 million, or 32 cents per…

A Chinese technology firm that made an internet browser it claims is used by the government and can break the “monopoly” of U.S. software has been found to use parts of Google‘s Chrome browser. Redcore, a Chinese start-up said it has developed “core technology” with “independent intellectual property rights” in regards to its browser. But eagle-eyed users on Chinese social media spotted traces of Chrome in the installation directory of Redcore’s browser. There was a…

Activist investor Starboard Value has taken a 5.8 percent stake in Symantec and is seeking five board seats at the cybersecurity company, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Starboard privately named its nominees in June after buying the stake worth about $670 million, the Journal said, citing sources. According to Starboard, Symantec needs operational changes to improve margins, especially in its business-facing segment, the Journal said. Starboard says its nominees could help improve operations…

Italy is embroiled in a blame game after a freeway bridge collapsed on Tuesday in the city of Genoa, killing at least 39 people. The country’s political parties have apportioned blame for the disaster to, variously, previous governments, the European Union, the road management company and even the Mafia. “All main political parties, particularly the government parties, are eager to score political points,” Federico Santi, Europe analyst at Eurasia Group, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe”…

Amazon is speaking with a number of leading European insurers about the creation of a price comparison website in the U.K., Reuters reported Thursday. The report, which cited three executives within the insurance industry, said it was not immediately clear what kind of insurance products Amazon’s site would offer, and that there were no imminent launch plans. The company is speaking to insurers in the continent about whether they could contribute products to the website,…

Australian Senator Fraser Anning this week reinvigorated long-standing debates about immigration after calling for a national vote to ban people of non-European descent from migrating to the country. Delivering his first-ever address to parliament on Tuesday, the politician advocated a return to the “White Australia” policy, which existed in the country for most of the 1900s before being abolished in 1973. Anning, a member of the right-wing Katter’s Australian Party, singled out Muslims in particular,…

Turkey should commit to sound economic policies to promote stability and reduce imbalances at a time of market volatility, an IMF spokesperson said on Wednesday as a row between Washington and Ankara over the jailing of an American pastor dragged on. The spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was no indication that Turkish authorities are considering asking for financial assistance from the Washington-based International Monetary Fund. The Fund was monitoring the situation closely,…

Tencent’s stock was in focus after the company posted a quarterly earnings report on Wednesday that missed analyst expectations. Thursday morning trade saw the Chinese tech giant’s Hong Kong-listed stock sliding around 3 percent following the news. The company’s profit for the quarter ending in June dipped 2 percent to 17.87 billion yuan ($2.59 billion), which was weaker than analysts had anticipated. That was also the first decline in profit for the company in almost…

U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter to deride the governor of his home state for having “a total meltdown” after the latter said at an event that America “was never that great.” “Can you believe this is the Governor of the Highest Taxed State in the U.S., Andrew Cuomo, having a total meltdown!” Trump said on Twitter on Wednesday evening. Trump on Twitter: “WE’RE NOT GOING TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, IT WAS NEVER…